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J ace could guess who was behind the attempt to kill him—Lord Tyrus. Nothing else made sense.

Tyrus was the only surviving son of the night fae prince, but more importantly, he was Silver’s half-brother.

When Tyrus had learned that Silver had mated and sired a daughter, he’d put out a contract on the entire small family to ensure his father had only one heir—himself.

The assassins had gotten first Takira, then Silver, but a Rock Run fada had saved Merry.

Prince Langdon, Tyrus’s father, hadn’t wanted it known that he’d spawned a mixed-blood granddaughter. But when he found out Tyrus was hunting Merry, he cast a special ward to protect her. Any night fae who tried to harm her, even Tyrus, would meet their end.

Thank the gods Merry had a new set of parents now, a Rock Run couple who loved her like she was their own daughter.

When Jace had finally tracked her down, years after Takira’s death, she’d been adopted by the man who’d saved her from the night fae and his mate.

As far as Merry was concerned, Rui and Valeria do Mar were her parents now, the Rock Run base her home.

Jace couldn’t bring himself to take her away from the only family she’d ever known.

The pretty blond female frowned down at Jace, and his mind spun away from his niece.

The pain was a raging fire in his belly now. While he was unconscious, the small amount of healing he’d done seemed to have been reversed, another symptom of iron poisoning.

“Salt and warm water?” The female’s low, practical voice came from down a long dark tunnel.

All he could do was tell her what to do and hope it worked. Because if not, Jace would die, and probably the two humans as well. He’d somehow eluded Tyrus’s henchman, but the night fae lord was smart—and brutal. He’d track Jace down and snuff these two like flies.

Fortunately, his rescuers followed directions. The boy returned with a pitcher filled with the salt solution. The female knelt on the floor next to the couch and then, to Jace’s surprise, touched his cheek.

He squinted in her direction and her face swam into view, pinched with concern. “I’m Evie, by the way, and this is my brother Kyler.” She indicated the skinny dark-haired teenager.

Her fingers were cool—or was it because he was so hot? He moistened dry lips and then croaked his name. “Jace.”

“Nice to meet you, Jace.”

His lips twitched despite himself. It was so human, to introduce herself at a time like this…but sweet.

Her fingers brushed his forehead, and he tensed, anticipating what was to come.

“Try to relax,” the female—Evie—murmured.

She smelled like fresh soap; she must have washed her hands again. He could’ve told her there was no need. The iron would kill any germs, and if not, the salt solution would do the rest.

That was, if the iron didn’t kill him first.

“Relax,” Evie repeated, and to please her, he smoothed out his forehead.

“Okay.” She wet a clean rag with the salt solution and dabbed at the wounds. “I’m going to clean this out for you.”

“No,” he said, and she stopped and looked at him, her brow furrowed. “Pour it into the cut,” he said. “You have to…rinse it out. Poison.” He rolled onto his side and dug his fingers into the couch, knowing what was to come.

“Okay,” she said. “Take it easy.”

He drew a slow breath, but there was no way he could relax. “Just do it,” he said between clenched teeth.

Her brother handed her a folded bath towel. She tucked it under Jace’s stomach to catch the overflow, and then set her fingers on either side of the lower cut and gently pulled it open. “You pour,” she told Kyler.

“Good,” Jace said. “That’s good. Clean it out.”

The kid tipped the pitcher and salt solution poured into the wound.

Jace’s whole body bowed in pain. God’s cat, it was like getting stabbed all over again. He tightened his jaw and rode it out. Because screaming, especially in front of two humans, would be the final humiliation.

And then, mercifully, he passed out.

When he came to, Evie was stroking his forehead. “There, there,” she said in a motherly voice at odds with her edgy appearance. “It’s all over now.”

He stared at her through slit lids. “Thanks,” he managed to say.

She looked down at his stomach. “Did it work?”

He frowned, checking inwardly. The fire in his blood had subsided to a simmer. “Think so.”

“Can we do anything else?”

“Water.”

“Just plain water?”

He gave a single nod.

She removed her hand from his forehead, and he grabbed for her, latching onto the hem of her shirt. “Not you. Him.” He jerked his chin at the teenager.

Her dark brows lifted. “You want me to stay?”

He nodded again. He knew he was being unreasonable, but both cat and man wanted her to remain close.

“Okay.” She took his hand. “Kyler will get you the water, then.”

His fingers folded on hers. “Thanks,” he whispered.

When the water came, she put an arm beneath his shoulders to support him while he drank greedily. It was ice cold and wonderful.

He finished the glass, and she laid his head back down on the cushion and pressed a wet rag to his forehead. He closed his eyes in relief at the coolness. How did she know exactly what he needed?

The storm had slowed to a drizzle. From far away, he heard Evie tell her brother to go outside and make sure there wasn’t any blood. Smart woman.

“The rain must have washed it away,” Kyler replied.

“Get the hose out and wash it down anyway.”

“’Kay.” He heard Kyler’s footsteps move into the kitchen.

Evie touched Jace’s arm. He pried opened his eyes to see her holding another glass of water. “You need liquids—you’re burning up. Unless that’s your normal body temperature?”

He shook his head. “Water…good.”

“That’s what I thought.” Again, she slid an arm beneath his shoulders and held the glass to his lips.

After drinking his fill, he rested his head against her shoulder and let his eyes close again.

She’d changed into a dry T-shirt—gray with a purple star in center.

She stilled and then to his satisfaction, remained where she was.

She was a sturdy little thing—the arm around him had a lean strength—but the spot between her shoulder and her breast was soft and comforting.

He inhaled deeply, filling his nostrils with her sweet, womanly scent.

His breath sighed out. Tomorrow he’d be embarrassed at how weak he was acting, but right now, he didn’t fucking care. Because he needed this.

“Do you want any more?” The glass nudged his lips.

When he shook his head, she lowered him carefully to the pillow. His cat whined, but both of them were too weak to do anything about it.

Evie came to her feet. He watched through slit lids as she stretched. The hem of her T-shirt rode up to reveal a tan strip of skin above her waistband.

She glanced down and caught him looking, and her eyes flickered. She unhurriedly brought her arms down and straightened the shirt.

“I’m going to see how Kyler’s doing. You’ll be all right for a few minutes, won’t you?”

He nodded. His cat wasn’t happy, but the man told the cat to suck it up.

She touched his shoulder. “Try to rest. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He listened as her footsteps moved down the hall to the kitchen.

He drew a slow breath. With Evie out of the room, the effects of the iron seemed worse. He touched his abdomen. The salt had neutralized the iron so that it wasn’t still feeding into his bloodstream, but he felt like he’d been run over by a frigging semi.

He’d live, as his soldier mom used to say, but he was in for a rough night while his body worked to eliminate the small amount of iron that had entered his bloodstream.

The best thing was to sleep and let his body’s natural healing abilities take over.

That would also give his quartz time to reenergize so he could call for help.

He trusted that Evie and her brother would do their best to keep him safe—and trust didn’t come easily to Jace. Even so, he instinctively sized up his surroundings, noting the exits.

The living room ran the length of this side of the narrow house. He was on the single couch, which backed up against an inside wall. The two windows behind him faced the alley, their blinds closed. An air conditioner hummed in one window, which was good, even though his animal preferred fresh air.

Closed windows meant that he couldn’t be scented from the outside. Fae didn’t have any better sense of smell than a human, but they could be working with a fada.

On the other side of the living room, two more windows looked onto a narrow front porch.

If he lifted his head, he could see the front door to the left of the windows.

The room itself only had a few pieces of furniture.

Other than the couch, there was an easy chair, a sturdy oak coffee table, and a bookcase filled with books, DVDs and other knickknacks, and crowned with a large green fern.

Evie returned. She sat on the edge of the couch, careful not to bump him.

“Is there anyone we should call?”

Jace considered that. He shared a den in Baltimore with a handful of other unmated men. They were friends, but they didn’t keep tabs on one another. He wouldn’t be missed until tomorrow morning at the earliest.

Adric was alpha of the Baltimore clan now. He’d be pissed off when he found out Jace was hurt and hadn’t tried to contact him, but the night fae clearly didn’t know where Jace had gone to ground. In fact, calling for help might lead the bastards straight to this house.

“No,” he told Evie.

“Not even your mate?”

“No mate,” he said firmly, and then wondered why he’d told her. As a fada, he couldn’t tell a lie without making himself violently ill, but that didn’t mean he had to answer the human’s questions.

“That’s good.”

He watched, fascinated, as she pinkened. His clan was mostly brown skinned. He hadn’t known someone could blush that easily.

“I mean,” she added, “no one will be worrying about you then.”